Coinbase Seeks Approval for 50-Plus Single-Stock Perpetuals

The contracts are still awaiting regulatory clearance. The filing shows how exchanges can keep expanding product design under existing agency processes even after a sweeping crypto bill failed in the Senate.

Coinbase has filed to list perpetual-style futures on roughly 50 to 60 large U.S. stocks through its regulated derivatives venue. CFTC industry filings dated September 18 show a series of single-stock futures products in "approval pending" status, including contracts tied to Tesla, Qualcomm and other large-cap names.

The proposal would bring a structure popularized in crypto markets into regulated U.S. equity-linked derivatives. Perpetual-style contracts provide leveraged price exposure without the frequent contract rolls associated with conventional short-dated futures, although U.S. versions can still have long legal maturities and funding mechanisms rather than literally infinite duration.

Product approval is moving on a different track from legislation

Three days earlier, the Senate failed to advance the Clarity Act in a 49-50 procedural vote. Sixty votes were required. That leaves broad digital-asset market-structure legislation stalled for now.

Coinbase's filing sits inside a narrower regulatory channel. The CFTC and related securities-futures framework can consider specific contracts even while Congress remains unable to agree on a comprehensive crypto statute.

Coinbase is using the filing to push beyond a revenue base still exposed to crypto trading cycles. Equity-linked derivatives would let it reuse exchange, margining and customer infrastructure against a much larger underlying asset class if regulators permit commercially usable contracts.

Until regulators approve the products and eligible customers trade them at scale, the filing contributes no revenue. Approval terms, leverage limits, customer access and realized volume will determine whether the product broadens Coinbase's earnings base.

Sources

• CFTC, pending designated-contract-market products: https://www.cftc.gov/IndustryOversight/IndustryFilings/TradingOrganizationProducts?Type=Future&page=1
• Wall Street Journal, September 18 Coinbase filing report: https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/stock-market-today-dow-sp-500-nasdaq-09-18-2026/card/coinbase-files-to-list-u-s-single-stock-perpetual-futures-f2q6W4mtxLA3hkVHvqcT
• Associated Press, September 15 Clarity Act vote: https://apnews.com/article/senate-crypto-bill-midterms-trump-ethics-e3caf262dc138147941787299e5f0a66